Has Lindt Achieved EXCELLENCE with its Chocolate Competition?

Lindt is now unveiling a very special chocolate treat, produced as a part of a contest with the Culinary Institute of America. Many different chocolate recipes were tried and refined during the course of the competition, but only one could come out on top.

It is a rich bar of premium dark chocolate, with what is described as a bittersweet taste and a strong coffee flavor, where toasted coconut plays the role of a supporting actor by adding delicate little flakes which helped the bar win the award.

Meredith Walter, the student who came up with the now award-winning dark chocolate concoction, was inspired in creating the bar by baking a birthday cake for her uncle and mother. She first made a coconut cake with mocha frosting, before refining the recipe for the contest and seeing it take bar form.

One of the contest’s judges was celebrity chef Michael Symon, who is no stranger to winning culinary competitions himself. The accomplished restaurateur earned his spot on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America by winning the Next Iron Chef reality show contest. Since beginning at Kitchen Stadium he can boast the winningest record of all Iron Chefs in the show’s history, outperforming even existing fan favorites like Masaharu Morimoto and Bobby Flay.

“As a chef, I love cooking with robust flavors, and the new Lindt Mocha Coconut dark chocolate bar exemplifies a great flavor combination and delicious sensory experience,” Symon said. “I’m proud to be a judge in the contest with Lindt and my alma mater, The Culinary Institute of America, and to taste each of the students’ hand-crafted dark chocolate bars.”

The Lindt contest was run with the participation of the Culinary Institute of America, which some may be surprised to learn is a non-profit organization. For every one of these bars sold, $1 will be donated to the institute, targeting specific programs within.

The Lindt EXCELLENCE program was a scholarship contest, with a $5,000 scholarship awarded to the creator of the ultimate recipe inspired by Lindt’s existing EXCELLENCE line of premium chocolate bars. Congratulations to Meredith Walter for winning the prize.

This special candy bar will be released as a limited edition, so you may have only a brief window in which to try it out for yourself. If the bar sells well enough it may become a permanent staple of Lindt’s offerings, so consumers will now have their own chance to vote– with their wallets.